Alanna Meets Numair
by ElvenDestiny
Summary: Alanna's visit to Thom ends up as a surprising first meeting with Numair...and the beginning of a long and special friendship. Highly unprobable so it's semi AU, one shot.


Alanna Meets Numair

June 27, 2001  
by: Lionessqueen

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. No copyright infringement intended. This was just an idea about how Alanna met Numair, since they are close friends.

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Alanna sighed. Every single time she had come here, she wondered how her brother could bear to live in this dismal, gray, gloomy place. She rode Moonlight right up to the dark gray, unforgiving stonewalls of the City of the Gods. There was absolutely no greenery anywhere near the city, and it seemed like the whole world was grey. The sky was cloudy, and Alanna felt that it matched her mood perfectly. Even the warrior-priests guarding the gates to the city seemed bored.

The priests guided her to the Mithran Cloisters, where Alanna's brother, Thom, had lived for the past four years. Alanna cheered up a little; she hadn't seen Thom since she was here the last time with George to talk about Roger, which was about three months ago. This time, Alanna was here to tell Thom to go to court to protect King Roald, Queen Lianne, and Jon. On her last visit to Thom, he had promised to go to court, but Thom went back to the Mithran Cloisters after Alanna's duel with Roger.

"Thom!" she yelled, when she saw her twin. Thom looked just the same as ever, only a little older, and paler.

Thom sacrificed his dignity and loudly yelled back, "Sister dear, Mithros knows I've missed you!" They hugged each other, and Alanna thought that Thom seemed more and more different than herself. They both had changed a lot from the day when Alanna rode with Coram to begin training as a page, and when Thom went with Maude to become a sorcerer. Faithful leapt lightly down from his perch on the saddle, and Alanna picked him up, stroking his soft black fur.

"What brings you here?" asked Thom. "If it's the whole business about the court and protecting their Majesties, you can stop worrying like a old mother hen with her chicks."

"Thom! A old mother hen?" Alanna sputtered. "You know, I used to be able to dunk you in our old fishpond, and I bet I can still do that! Besides, last time I was here, you ruined the ember that the Goddess gave me!" Faithful yowled agreement then looked smug as Thom shot him a dirty look.

"Alanna, I did NOT ruin your precious ember; the only thing that happened was that the gold chain melted, that's all! Your temper's the same as ever, I see!" Thom said, exasperated.

"Well, the Goddess gave me that ember, and what do you mean, 'the only thing that happened was that the gold chain melted'! So, are you going to go to Court or not?" Alanna snapped. She was really getting mad at Thom now, brother or not.

Thom said in soothing voice, "Calm down, Alanna. I'm packing right now to leave for Court, and in two days' time, I'll be ready to go. Anyway, since you say that the Goddess gave you the ember, more reason that since it's a heavenly object, it cannot be harmed, Alanna!" Thom smiled smugly, then ducked as Alanna swung at him.

"About time of you to go! And that ember you talk so carelessly about means a lot to me, and besides, it's an object of great magical power from the Goddess. No more about the ember or else I'll try to find an unfrozen pond especially for you! Also, how many times do I have to tell you, don't call me Alanna, call me Alan. Even when we seem to be alone! Don't you dare forget!"

"There can't possibly be anyone listening to us! You're so suspicious," Thom retorted.

"Great magical power from the Goddess?" a mild, smooth voice said. The door opened, and a tall man wearing the black and gold robes of a Master stopped in surprise as he came through the door and stepped into the room.

Alanna glared at Thom. No one listening to us? she thought angrily. She looked Numair over. He was over six feet tall, bony, with black hair, and intelligent, deep brown eyes. He was impressive and quite somber in his gold and black robes, but he had a smile on his lips as he caught Alanna looking him over. He seemed cheerful enough, Alanna thought sourly.

Numair, in turn, looked at Alanna, blinked for a second, and looked at Thom, standing a few feet away. He looked quizzical; a funny expression on his face, not matching his formal bearing and clothes.

"Thom, who is this? He looks just like you, only shorter!" Numair said as he peered down at Alanna. Alanna stiffened at the reference to her height, she glared up at him until she realized how ridiculous the position looked.

"Sh- I mean, he, is just my twin brother named Alann-Alan, squire to Prince Jonathan. Numair, this is Alan, and Alann-...um, Alan.this is Numair, one of the only nine black robed Masters in the world." Thom looked confused.

Alanna said in an annoyed tone, " Well! Why don't you just tell everyone, Thom, and then I can drown you in the pond!"

Numair looked surprised again, and then looked thoughtful. Alanna could just see him figuring out all of Thom's slips and piecing them together, and she cursed her own thoughtlessness in implying there was a secret. Alanna looked at Thom, and he nodded slightly. She sighed, and said, "O Gods, why me?"

"All right, Thom, close the door. This is all you fault you know." Thom hurried and shut the door gently. "Numair, I don't know you at all, but evidently Thom does, and he trusts you. I'm not exactly who I seem to be, and I'm going to trust you to keep your mouth shut with this secret. I'm the squire of Prince Jonathan, and…I'm a girl." It was incredibly hard to admit what she had spent years keeping secret from even her dearest friends. Also, she didn't know Numair at all, and even though she trusted Thom's judgment, sometimes it wasn't very good with people. "I'm going to wait until I get my shield before telling everyone."

Numair actually didn't look that surprised. Alanna thought that he already guessed that she was a girl wearing men's clothes. He seemed very perceptive. "What about that holy object of great power?"

Alanna shot Thom an extremely annoyed look. She said scathingly to Numair, "You know, I can't believe you're so lucky. Very few people know about my secret, and only three people in the entire world-" Faithful made a sound that was surprisingly close to a snort.

"-well, three people and a cat, know about this one." She took a deep breath, and told Numair all about how the Goddess gave her the ember from Alanna's fire that stormy night that she also met Faithful. Alanna told how the ember worked, without telling Numair about Duke Roger.

Numair wanted to hold the ember, but Alanna remembered how Thom had used a Word of Power on it, the last time she let someone hold it. She didn't let him touch the ember, but explained why to Numair, glaring at Thom while she was doing so.

Thom seemed to never know when to stop. He said teasingly, "Falling for him, aren't you, Alanna?" He gave a very dramatic sigh, and said, "I suppose I should warn George and Jon about more competition."

Alanna blushed crimson and then grew white with fury. "Thom, you're going to get it!"

She pushed past Numair, and said, "Now, Numair, please excuse me since I have some long delayed business with my twin, here. Thom, you're going to pay a visit to the nearest pond, frozen or not. Shall we?" Alanna dragged Thom by the arm to the pond outside. To her surprise, it was unfrozen. Thom seemed to not believe she would really push him in, so he followed her to the edge of the pond. As always, he had misjudged his sister.

"Haha, Thom, have a nice, icy swim there," she yelled as she shoved Thom in, laughing. "You should have known I would never hesitate to do something I've threatened!"

Thom made a huge splash and then sputtered as he came up for air. His Master's robes were dripping wet and hung on his slender form. "This time, sister of mine, you won't get away so easily!" He grinned and flung a magical net around Alanna and pulled her into the pond right next to him.

Alanna yelped as she fell with a splash into the icy water. She splashed the water at Thom, and he splashed back. Momentarily forgetting her fear of the water, she and her twin had a full-scale icy water fight.

Thom was shivering with cold as they paused in the melee. The wind blew at them and with his hair wet and lips blue from the icy water, he looked just like a drowned rat. Before she could tell him so, however, Thom yelled, "Alanna! You look like a drowned rat!"

"So do you!" she yelled back at him, and the water fight resumed until they were breathless from the cold.

Numair came out, musing about Alanna's story about the Goddess' ember. He stopped and stared at Thom and Alanna, soaking wet, with Thom's black and gold robes floating around him in the water. He laughed and laughed and laughed, and called out, " Having a nice swim in there, Thom?" He couldn't stop laughing at the hilarious sight.

"What are you laughing at?" yelled both Alanna and Thom the same time. They looked at each other mischievously.

"Yes, the water's nice and cold here, care to join us?" Thom asked. He flung the same magical web of power he had pulled Alanna in with at Numair. Numair, taken by surprise, made a huge splash as he dropped into the water from midair. The three friends stood, soaking wet, but laughing and forgetting all the tedious dignity as they had a huge water fight.

Later, Alanna reflected on how good it felt to abandon everything and just have some fun. It had been years since any of them had done so, which made the moment all the more special for them. Numair taught Alanna more spells, though she didn't really wish to learn them. Ever since that visit, Alanna always considered Numair one of her close friends, and they met often in the later years when Numair worked for Jonathan.

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A/N: I wrote this a long time ago, and I haven't made changes. In case you were wondering, Lionessqueen was my old pen name for all my Tamora Pierce fanfics. This was my first fanfic, so I'm going to preserve it the way I first wrote it. Yes, there are inaccuracies, and this is not very canonical or probable, but what can I say, I was eleven.

**Please review!**


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